I’m almost convinced we’re going to win lotto soon. After the traffic here and the driving ‘skills’ of the locals we are just that lucky to be alive. Lotto will be a breeze.
When I refer to ‘Bandy’ I’m referring to Bandhavgarh, right? I’m not tangling with that name over and over again. So, we got to Bandy in time for a late lunch. Thankfully they had cooked a very mild (spice wise) meal. Straight after that we were into a little ‘safari car’ which has 2 bucket seats up front and two 3 x seater benches in back. While we saw up to 8 adults and 4 kids in some of these we were pleased we had a private tour with just us and our guide and driver.
Half an hour later we had our entry tickets and we were off on safari. Wouldn’t you know it. First day, first safari, first location and there’s our first tiger. This 2 year old male had apparently had a kill in the morning and was (correctly) assumed to still be in the area napping after his big feed. We were only 15 meters maximum from this wild creature and it was beautiful. We had hoped to catch sight of a tiger while in India. A glimpse would have satisfied our hunger but here, stretched out in front of us was ‘striped power’ relaxing after a meal. Were we happy? You bet we were. We’ve seen all the big cats of Africa. Now we can check ‘Tiger’ off our list. But that wasn’t enough. We wanted more after that.
Second trip out and we had no luck with the Tiger sighting. Lots of deer (spotted, barking & samba). Thousands of birds of all species. A “marbled balloon frog” (which sent our guide into raptures). Wild boars, vultures and even a large monolithic statue reclining by a pool on a mountainside. We saw Mahouts washing their elephants between patrols of the jungle. But no tigers.
Third trip out and we were the second car in an informal convoy. The first car missed it entirely. Our guide, our driver and I missed it, but Shane started screaming “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!” (later back at park HQ one guide from another vehicle asked our guide “why was your grandmother shouting out Tiger! Tiger! Tiger?”) Sure enough not 8 meters from the side of the road was another huge specimen of a tiger. He was (note ‘was’) asleep but when we backed up to it and other cars appeared like flies to cow droppings it became a bit annoyed with the commotion. After a short while it was all too much and this gorgeous beast got up and looked around to see why these people were here. Now see this in your mind. Here’s me, on the tiger’s side of the vehicle. We’re the closest as we’d found it. And here’s a live WILD tiger not two car lengths away from me AND ITS STARING AT ME!!!! Shit! I knew I should have gone on that diet. I’ll swear it eyed off my belly and thought “Ah! MacDonald’s are delivering Big Macs now”. I looked around us and in the rush to get close every one of the 600 million cars in India had our car blocked in. I’m trying to look as unappetising as I can and this beast opens it’s huge gob to yawn. You could park our entire vehicle in those jaws and its eyeing me off! That’s it. I want out of here! I started sliding across the seat to the far side of the vehicle but Shane was blocking me. Is it a sin to mentally tell a tiger your wife is tastier than you are? Then without another look it just got up on four paws and saunters off into the bush. Phew. I drew in a big breath and I realised my heart was racing. What a blast!!!!!
On our way back from the National Park Reserve we caught sight of our 3rd big cat. This female was wallowing in a man made waterhole (designed for this purpose) to cool down from the heat. It was a bit far from the car (about 40 meters) but clearly visible and loving it’s swim. What a day this had been. Can we top this? Time will tell.
Cheers
Garry
Big Mac hey?? Classic dad 🙂 n no, you can’t sacrifice mum to save yourself!!